Traditional Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters are two types of standard Chinese character sets of contemporary written Chinese. Traditional characters had taken shape since the Reform of Writing and have largely maintained the same structure as when the regular script was introduced in the 2nd century. Since then, traditional characters were regarded as the only standard form of Chinese characters until the middle of the 20th century. Traditional Chinese characters are officially used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Since the 1950s and 1960s, the government of China has introduced and promoted simplified Chinese characters to encourage literacy. Several decades later, they are officially used in mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore.
I want to discuss the ongoing debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters in this article. Even though with exposure and experience, people educated in one writing system can quickly become familiar with the other, it is challenging to convert an entire document written in simplified characters to traditional characters and vice versa. That is why some people argue Sinophone world should use only one type of character. Advocates of simplified characters argue that simplified characters contain fewer strokes, which means they are more accessible for people to learn the writing system and faster to write. The proponents also point out that the population of simplified characters users is much larger, and it is tough to convert all these people to another writing system. Nevertheless, the users of traditional characters claim the speed advantage of simplified Chinese has become less relevant in the internet age. They also state that the aesthetic continuity of China’s immense heritage of art, literature, and calligraphy is diminished by supplanting characters in common use for centuries.
Many industries here in Quebec are facing a critical worker shortage. Even though many people argue that the current situation could be alleviated with the help of immigrants or temporary foreign workers, the government of Quebec regards immigrants as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, immigrants will boost to help fix the labour shortage and develop Quebec’s economy in this post-pandemic period. On the other hand, the government of Quebec is afraid of the status of the French language with the influx of non-Francophone immigrants. The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) candidate for Trois-Rivières, Jean Boulet, made the comments during the provincial election campaign: “Eighty percent of immigrants go to Montreal, don’t work, don’t speak French, and don’t adhere to the values of Quebec,” he said. “The key is regionalization and francization.” Although he apologized for his comments which “didn’t express his thoughts well,” he was criticized by his competitors and the public. The premier of Quebec, Francois Legault stated that it would be suicide to accept more than 50000 immigrants a year; he also tied immigrants to violation and extremism. It seems that Quebec is in a dilemma, it is obvious that Quebec needs to welcome more and more immigrants to address the worker shortage problem. Nevertheless, the government of Quebec privileges the protection of the French language even at the cost of the development of Quebec’s economy.
According to Statistics Canada’s most recent report on Quebec immigration between 2011 and 2016, Quebec received 215,170 immigrants. Of those, 179,270 (83 percent) went to Montreal. The most immigrants during that period came from France (20,030), followed by Haiti (16,875), Algeria (16,380) and Morocco (13,480). Cameroon (7,555) and Tunisia (5,850) are also on the list, along with non-French speaking countries China (10,705), Colombia (7,540), Iran (7,505) and Syria (7,460).
Before I move on to the topic of this blog, please let me ask you one question first. When you go to the store and want to buy tofu, have you ever thought that the word ‘tofu’ is an original English word or it was borrowed from other language? Actually, this word is a loanword that originates from the Chinese word ‘dòu fu’. We can find many examples like this in our life.
Loanwords are words that are adopted from one language into another with little or no alteration. Borrowing is a consequence of cultural contact between two language communities. Borrowing of words can go in both directions between the two languages in contact, but often there is an asymmetry, such that more words go from one side to the other. The actual process of borrowing is complex and involves many usage events.
In order to study Chinese borrowed words in English vocabulary based on dictionary research, Vice Professor Zeng Tai Yuan of Dong Wu University, Taiwan, gave a close look at Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (Fifth Edition) and found out that there were at least about 300 words in English vocabulary borrowed from Chinese (Zeng, 2005). We can see some examples from this site https://www.thoughtco.com/english-words-borrowed-from-chinese-688248 Similarly as English has borrowed lots of words from Chinese, there are many words borrowed from English in Chinese vocabulary, from every aspect of social life. According to Zhang’s (2005) stratified sampling research, English-borrowed words can be divided into 14 groups. From my perspective, one of the reasons why there are loanwords between English and Chinese is due to external factors. To be more specific, they are related to geographical neighbourhood, politics, economy, culture, military, and other activities between different countries.
14 groups in English borrowed words
Language is the key to human communication, and despite the vast differences between world countries and their cultures, their people’s languages have always influenced one another. In my opinion, loanwords have many advantages. They usually seem fashionable and interesting, which can attract Chinese young students deeply and stir up their enthusiasm and motivation in learning English. In addition, the process of borrowing words can be regarded as the process of gaining a better and deeper understanding of each associated country’s cultures, economies, policies, etc.
So, here is the question: as language teachers, how can we help students learn languages better by using loanwords? And do you think there are still disadvantages of loanwords? If so, how could we improve them?
References:
Zeng, T. (2005). Translating Chinese Culture-Specific Words into English–from a Perspective of Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 5th edition. Journal of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, 11, 74-77.
Zhang, P. (2005). Study on English Loan Words in Chinese. Tianjin University of Finance & Economics, 10-15.
One of the things that most people would do when they arrive in Quebec is to learn French. When I first arrived here, I was really excited to take the free French courses and expected to speak fluent French.
However, my expectations and feelings changed after I stayed in this full immersion program for one year. I felt that the course did meet up my expectation and finally decided to drop out. Apart from me, I also saw many of my classmates drop for different reasons. Generally, there are some reasons for quitting:
Financial assistance for courses is not sufficient for living in Montreal. As their financial needs increased, they needed to start working, even though they haven’t reached the threshold for linguistic autonomy.
The language benchmark needed to obtain Canadian citizenship is proficiency level 4 (d’Haese, 2018).
French is too hard to learn, and people cannot see their progress in French and start to forget English words.
Certain professors treat students impatiently or intentionally target certain students.
People are too busy with school or work, so they have to give up learning French in class.
Some want to have courses but just cannot register because there are no available seats.
Here is a video about one student who dropped out of the francization program and talked about his reasons:
Can those concerns be solved? Probably, learning French during working hours can be a solution. Denis Hamel, vice-president of workforce policy development for the Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ), believed that teaching and learning French in the workplace during working hours is the best and most efficient way to learn French.
He said,
“You cannot expect either an immigrant or a Canadian-born person to follow courses in the evening or on a Saturday morning above all the duties we have in our lives.”
Providing opportunities to learn in the work place can solve many of those concerns, such as not having enough financial assistance, no time to learn, and no available seats to register. More flexible learning opportunities can be offered after working hours. Besides, instead of sitting in the classroom for 4 hours every day, some activities can be organized to practice French in real life, so people do not feel tired but still have to sit in class to learn. People can also see the progress of their French when using in real life.
Questions
If you are taking or once took a Francization program, what are the reasons that make you stay or drop out?
How can the Francization program be improved to keep students staying and learning French?
Italy is a fascinating place when it comes to sociolinguistics. The dialects and languages spoken around the country are so particular and recognizable that it is very easy yo immediately understand where an Italian is from after they say two or three words. Although grammar and vocabulary-wise Italian is the same all around the peninsula, the language sounds very very different depending on the region where it is spoken.
Every single region has its own particular accent and intonation when speaking Italian (to understand this it might be helpful to think about the English spoken in New York and the one spoken in Texas, for example), and sometimes the difference is perceptible even between towns within the same region. These differences are so particular that many comedians have built their performances on the specificities of Italian accents and dialects, and it is possible to see these accents represented in many tv shows and Italian movies. What is interesting is that every time one of these shows reproduce Italian accents or dialects, the latter are always associated with very specific meanings and representations. This is because language is strongly linked with ideologies and attitudes, and a language is never only just a language, but it is the combination of historical, political and cultural features that create a collective imaginary of that language and its people.
As Van Herk (2018) explains “Language attitudes underlie […] the way we evaluate other people and their speech” (p. 159). Every time an Italian hears an Italian accent, immediately a combination of attitudes, images and stereotypes takes shape in their mind, and this is because every Italian region and the accent or dialect spoken in it are strongly associated with specific representations. It is interesting to notice how certain accents are considered to be ugly (I’m thinking here of showgirls from Sardinia or Naples and other regions that were asked to take courses of diction to sound good, neutral or standardly Italian on the stage) while others are seen as more elegant or cool (the accents from Rome or Florence, for example), and that attitudes toward a person can be strongly influenced by the language/dialect spoken by this person.
When we talk about Italy, the range of representations associated with different accents and dialects is extremely wide. North Italy is much more modern and advanced if compared to the rest of Italy (and in particular the South) when it comes to economy, infrastructures, education rates, technology. Milan is the emblem of this. It is here that we find skyscrapers, business, the fashion week, famous brands. It is here that posh, snob, stylish people live, and it is here that we hear people “speaking in italics” (“parlare in cörsivœ”). Yes, when the Milanese accent is over-performed its accent is considered to be an italic version of Italian, because it is associated with poshness and coolness. On the contrary, most accents from the South are associated with underdevelopment, low literacy and education rates, ignorance and everything that is far from a modern civil world. Naples is associated with superstition and sketchiness (because of the illegal business carried on by the famous Neapolitan swindlers), Sicily is associated with mafia (“The Godfather” is the first thing that comes to mind here), Sardinia is associated with shepherds and primitiveness. This difference in representations could be explained by the fact that while the North is very cold and business oriented (and, consequently, its people are considered to be very serious and emotionless), the South is much warmer, family oriented, and deeply rooted in traditions that value food and folklore. This can be represented through the dichotomy between rational (the North) and emotional (the South), especially if we think about the fact that often Southern people (and their language) are seen as overly dramatic, extrovert, impetuous and impassioned. Consequently, the accent, dialects and languages heard around South Italy take on a whole different kind of representations.
As you can see, when it comes to language attitudes in Italy, things can get very funny and interesting, but sometimes also unpleasant because language attitudes often generate stereotypes that can be used to discriminate and negatively represent a certain people. If you speak a dialect or if your accents is associated with particular characteristic I would like to ask you: are you pride of the variety of language that you speak or are you ashamed of it? How aware are you of the meanings carried by the dialect/accent that you speak? Think about it and see what comes out!
References
Van Herk, G. (2018). Attitudes and Ideologies. In Van Herk, G. (Ed.), What is sociolinguistics? (pp. 171-186). 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK:Wiley-Blackwell.
As we are all aware, many teens use social media outlets for multiple hours, daily. From scrolling through TikTok, to watching endless YouTube videos, Twitter, Instagram, you name it, they’re on it. Upon the topic of teens time spent online, an interesting question to raise is how their language skills may be influenced by social media and whether this influence is something that teachers should shut down or use to learners’ benefit.
Based on my experience teaching English Language Arts to learners aged 13-16, it has come to my attention that many students speak and write in their ‘online literacy’ language. The most notable part of it is the use of acronyms and shortened words for writing in class. Words such as through are written as thru, to be honest as tbh, okay as ok, going to written and spoken as gonna, etc. The list can indeed go on. All of this to say, students are thus using a new form of language online that is not always translated well into the school curriculum.
When reading through my students’ final responses I was quite shocked. I was wondering what I can do to address my students needs as digital media users for them to understand the difference between informal online language and language that is expected in formal writing in class. I started with a discussion of comparing some of the acronyms that I found in their responses as well as their proper form. The thing is students say they are aware that they are using their online lingo in class. All this said, is it just a habit then, that influences their use of online language in class?
In addition to the shifts in writing skills from the influence of social media, I have noticed that students use the slang in their daily conversation approach with their peers as well as me, their teacher. Though, where am I to draw the line? I often get “Yo, Miss Alison!” Although I am not bothered by it, being a young teacher, I know it is not meant to be disrespectful. Whereas other teachers that I work with may be bothered by students’ current methods of speech and are unaware of the fact that this is indeed how teens speak to each other online and in person.
This discussion of specific forms of language belonging to either online or in school can be tied together by exploring the idea of style. According to Van Herk (2018), language users often shift the way they speak depending on the context. Typically, individuals evaluate the situation in which they are participating in and decide which language style is best fitting to the particular situation (Herk, p. 126). Moreover, the degree of formality is the focus that is being changed when discussing the topic of internet slang VS. academic writing as well as informal chatting and greeting with teachers such as “Yo, Miss Alison”. That said, the ability to shift depending on context is a skill, thus, a skill to indeed be practiced.
That said, where should the line be drawn? Am I to expect students to speak to me the same way they are expected to write in formal English? Also, how has their social media experiences influenced the way they speak and is this where the shift is coming from?
Questions:
Does social media influence teen’s language in the classroom? How can teachers promote students multiple literacies? Is there a form of language that should be solely used in school?
Source:
Van Herk, Gerard. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
One day in the French class in the Francisation program, I was practicing French with my classmates. When I said “je vais t’attendre chez KFC ”, my classmate reminded me that KFC here in Montreal is called PFK. Then, I immediately asked what the people here call “the apple store” which sells iphones. Do they change it into “une pomme”? She laughed without giving me an answer.
I googled when I returned home, and I found out the apple store is still the apple store but KFC here becomes PFK. This is because of the Section 63 of Quebec French language charter, which states that the name of an enterprise must be in French. But why has only KFC changed its name, while the Apple Store, Dairy Queen, Subway and many other brands have not. Some people explained that if the brand does not make sense in French, then they change their names. For example, Shopper’s Drug Mart goes by Pharmaprix in Quebec because Quebecois would be confused by “shopper’s”, and they might think this is a proper name rather than referring to someone who goes to the store as a “shopper”. Canadian Tire also does not change the name because most French people can understand those two words. To some extent, we can think that brands which change their name try their best to integrate into the local society to attract customers. As long as the brands’ name does not cause confusion, they do not need to change the name. However, for those world-known brands like KFC, does their name really cause confusion? Is it really necessary for them to change the name?
The localization of names also happens to people. People tend to have a local name when they go to a new country. However, when I just arrived at the first course at McGill, the professor said that you do not need to change your name to an English name. Every professor will try hard to learn your own name. But many Chinese people I met outside McGill will still use their English names because it is easy to pronounce and remember by local people. And having an English name may also provide them with more interview opportunities. Some may have other reasons for using an English name.
Here is a link for the discussion about why Chinese have an English name:
For me, I think no matter what, people or brands should be empowered to choose which name they want to use other than being forced to have a localized name. When people try to learn and become accustomed to the local cultures, the local society also needs to become more inclusive to them. Also, people who do want to have a localized name also need to be willingly accepted instead of having to use their real name. Inclusion should be inclusive across the board, not just one aspect!
Questions:
Do you have any examples of foreign brands having a localized name when they enter your country? From your perspective, should brands keep their original names or should they change to a new local name?
Do you give yourself a localized name when you stay in another country? Do you feel comfortable using that? Do you prefer to use your own name given by parents?
As a language teacher, I like the idea of hearing more languages being spoken everywhere. It translates to a persons’ full linguistic repertoire being used and honoured. However, in Quebec, the act of greeting people in more than one language has become a controversy. It is so well known that Saturday Night Live even made a skit about it.
According to Van Herk (2018), code switching is a common phenomenon. It is a linguistic resource many communities use to signal a bi-cultural identity. Montreal being in a French province within an English dominant country, complicates the situation. As stipulated by the Charter of the French Language, all workers must carry their activities in French. However, many retail and business workers use the expression Bonjour-Hi, to indicate their fluency in both languages and to provide courteous customer service.
In October 2019, the Quebec government expressed his will to eliminate the bilingual expression Bonjour-Hi in businesses and government services. This statement came after the Office Québécois de la langue française (OQLF), who oversees the preservation of French, revealed that greetings in French dropped from 84 to 75% between 2010 and 2017. Thus, Simon Jolin-Barette, the minister responsible for the French language, sees this as evidence that the official language of the province is under threat.
Following Jolin-Barette’s announcement, the Bloc Québécois posted an advertisement on Twitter promoting the alternative expression “Bonjour-HO”. This holiday campaign aims at stamping out the bilingual greeting Bonjour-Hi. However, many people on social media pointed out the that the phrase might not be appropriate because the word “ho” carries a markedly different meaning than Santa Claus’s ho-ho-ho.
Avec la campagne «2021 : On touche du bois!», on vous offre nos meilleurs voeux à notre manière afin que l’année qui vient soit meilleure que 2020. Montréal bénéficiera également de la campagne «Bonjour–HO !» qui met de l’avant l’usage du français. Joyeuses Fêtes! @yfblanchetpic.twitter.com/Z7GkakMncm
In my opinion, the expression Bonjour-Hi is what makes the city of Montreal unique. This greeting should be kept in the same way because it promotes inclusivity and respect for both languages. Our province’s financial resource should not be allocated to separate the anglophones and the francophones any further. Policies should also focus on expanding and not reducing people’s linguistic repertoire. That said, what are your thoughts on the proposed banning of Bonjour-Hi?
References
Gouvernement du Québec. (n.d.). Office québécois de la Langue Française. Accueil – Office québécois de la langue française. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/accueil.aspx
Québécois, B. (2020, December 13). Avec la campagne “2021. Twitter. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://twitter.com/BlocQuebecois/status/1337915163090030596?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1337915163090030596%7Ctwgr%5Ecdecb1b29c9448fb27db955ae6e0d4e1f375c097%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timeout.com%2Fmontreal%2Fnews%2Fheres-how-montrealers-are-reacting-to-replacing-bonjour-hi-with-bonjour-ho-121420
Sandler, G. (2022, January 12). SNL did a skit about Montreal last night & it was brutal. MTL Blog. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://www.mtlblog.com/montreal/snl-did-a-skit-about-montreal-it-was-brutal
Van Herk, Gerard. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley- Blackwell.
In this blog, I will continue to talk about the French language which is interesting to me, but this time it will be from a different perspective. One day, my French teacher in the class said that in Quebec, people prefer to say “ À tantôt”, but in France, people are more likely to say “À bientôt”. At that time, I began to think about one question, that is, why the same language can have different expressions between different countries?
First of all, the differences relate to the local language environment and historical background. As we know that the official language in Quebec is French but we still can see that people are mostly bilingual, especially in Montreal, which means that they speak English and French. One of the reasons is that Quebec French has been influenced by English for a long time. For example, when Francophones in Quebec want to respond “thank you”, they often say “Bienvenue”. It is similar to the English expression “you are welcome”. There are still many other differences, Melody Tabatabaian explained them in her blog https://www.fluentu.com/blog/french/quebec-french/ Beginning in the 1530s, the French were the first to develop fur-trading activities in the region and colonize what is present-day Canada, calling it New France. When British people began to dominate the eastern coast of North America in the 1680s, they entered into a series of wars with France. As a result of these wars, New France was eventually turned over to Britain (Royal, 2012). Although Quebecers often support language policies designed to maintain French, in the administrative, financial, and industrial fields such as science and technology, there is an English influence. After all, nowadays the official languages in Canada are English and French. Many anglophones may also move to or live in Quebec. On the contrary, in France, people live in a relatively monolingual environment though more recently French has experienced a great deal of evolution.
Besides, the differences are influenced by local geographical factors. France is characterized by a temperate climate and oceanic with a high level of rainfall, mild winters, and warm summers. Sometimes summers will be cool too. Canada on the other hand can be very cold in certain areas, especially in winter (Aron, 2011). Thus, after the initial French immigrants came to North America because the natural environment and climate were quite different from France, they combined with the new living environment and created many new expressions based on French.
So here is the question: Do you think we need to assimilate and unify the language or maintain the language diversity?
References:
Aron. (2011, February 18). Difference between Canada and France. Difference Between.com. https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-canada-and-vs-france/
Royal, B. (2012). World Regional Geography. University of Minnesota Libraries.
Sardinia is an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea, and it is the place where I come from. The official language of Sardinia is Italian, but the language that brings people together, makes them feel profoundly connected to their land, traditions and history is Sardinian. However, when in 1861 Italy became a united nation, the use of the national language (Italian) was imposed on disparate peoples in order to unite them under the same flag and achieve political and administrative centralization. Sardinian, spoken in the island up to that moment, was presented as the language of the socially marginalized, co-responsible for Sardinia’s isolation and centuries-old misery. Conversely, Italian was displayed as a means of social emancipation and progress, to be used for socio-cultural integration with the mainland.
Sardinian is now an endangered language, and this is because many Sardinians detached (and still detach) themselves from and refuse to speak or “sound” (too) Sardinian, since the latter is still associated with a condition of degradation and uncivilization. Many of us (Sardinians) still suffer from a severe inferiority complex and share feelings of shame, and this is in part due to popular culture representations. Sardinian is often made fun of and reduced to a ridiculous caricature, to a “shepherd” and coarse “southern” accent. For Italians, Sardinian is merely a bunch of incomprehensible sounds belonging to an ignorant, poor and rough people.
One example that represents this popular culture believe can be identified in Groundskeeper Willie, the character on The Simpsons that impersonates the janitor at Springfield Elementary School. While in the original American version Willie is Scottish, in the Italian dubbed version of the animated sitcom Willie has a strong, thick, stereotypical Sardinian accent.
In the original version Willie speaks an English that is not very pleasant to the Yankees’ ears, and in Italy this was translated with the choice of making Willie be Sardinian. While there is no reason to claim that Sardinian is the most characteristic Italian dialect (because of the myriad of colorful and equally fascinating accents and dialects in the Italian peninsula), apparently, Sardinian is not very pleasant to the Italians’ ears. What is more, the hostile and diffident personality of the janitor can be easily associated with the stereotyped view that Italians have of Sardinians. Being The Simpson a satiric sitcom against the American society, the stylistic choices of the show have been transferred to the Italian context, reproducing an affective fabric that was already very solid in the minds of Italians and Sardinians. The result is that Sardinians can’t do anything but give up in front of these “funny” discriminations, so that we laugh at our own language together with those who humiliate it.
What I have just described supports what Van Herk (2018) writes when he speaks about the link between language and space: “social and physical ideas of space can interact to affect language” (p. 38). Sardinia is an island, which means that it is literally isolated from the rest of Italy, and this geographical configuration certainly influences people’s perceptions of Sardinian and its speakers. However, like Van Herk (2018) says, “What we call place is not simply a GPS coordinate, or geographic accident. Each regional language variety is a product of historical and social forces particular to that place.” (p. 42).
In Sardinia, historical, social, cultural and spatial elements have all contributed (and are still contributing) to the death of a language. When facing such powerful social representation, and dealing with ideas that are so deeply entrenched in collective imaginaries, do educators have the power to fight against the disappearance of languages? Can they make a difference in positively building a new image of endangered languages? I believe so, but schools cannot carry on this task alone and the support of political institutions is essential in protecting and promoting the vitality of languages that, like Sardinian, are slowly disappearing all around the world.
REFERENCES
Van Herk, G. (2018). Place. In Van Herk, G. (Ed.), What is sociolinguistics? (pp. 27-50). 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK:Wiley-Blackwell.
